Wednesday, January 21, 2009

When networks or leagues have conference calls, they usually have someone transcribe the better/relevant quotes, and send it out to the masses. Now when I first received this one in the inbox, I thought it was from some conference call that Chris Berman did on the Super Bowl, but no....that's not the case. For some reason, ESPN decided to have a staffer seemingly email questions to Berman, and have him share everything he knows about the Super Bowl. Here are some of the better responses....

What is one of the strangest experiences you have had covering the Super Bowl?

Perhaps the most surreal experience of covering the Super Bowl was the first Dallas-Buffalo game at the Rose Bowl. Tom Jackson and I had to leave the stadium just before halftime to get to our set location and ready for our post-game. When we left the field with a few minutes to go in the half, it was a close game. We hustled through the long portal and before we were out of the stadium, the Bills had fumbled and Dallas scored again. We got in a van that had one of those remote TVs and here’s Michael Jackson getting ready for one of the biggest halftime extravaganzas I have ever seen. We ran out and there was a football game that was close. By the time we got to the car, it was in blowout fashion and the field that had the game on it was transformed into this huge concert with Michael Jackson. It was the most surreal 15 minutes, and then it was back to football in the third quarter.

How much do you enjoy Super Bowl week?

It’s fun because you enjoy the people in and around the game. My favorite day is Media Day. If you like football, the players are in their uniforms on the field where they will play the game. To me that’s exciting. I really enjoy that day. A lot of the PR people from around the league and the people we deal with on the phone throughout the year are there, and I feel good for the coaches. I have great respect for the job of head coach in particular, assistants also. They work their life to get to that moment, and I am particularly fond of interviewing the coaches on that day a little off to the side. I’m genuinely happy for them because it’s their lifelong dream and I respect that.

Do you have any annual Super Bowl traditions, things that you do ever year?

I count on seeing certain people during the week, a lot of the people with the teams. Jerry Green, the longtime columnist of the Detroit News, and one of my Brown (University) guys, is another person I always look forward to seeing each year at the Super Bowl.

So Chris Berman likes hanging with friends at the Super Bowl. Who knew?!?! The best part about the whole thing though, is that they don't even ask him about this year's game! Just Berman talking about attending Super Bowls. It is a slow news day, but that's just a weird thing to email out to the media.

You can read all of the "earth shattering" responses over at Off The Wall, but I would strongly advise against it.

On the subject of Madden, you guys should check out the most recent HBO Real Sports episode. In a nutshell, the NFL Players Association lawyers bombarded former players with documents to allow them to use their likeness for future projects, like the EA Madden series. Then when the deal is made, they cut them completely out of the profits despite the fact, attributes of the players likeness is used in the games.

My god, the NFLPA are the biggest bunch of degenerate pieces of shits in all of sports. They make the baseball owners seem charitable.